


The Return of the Heterodyne (Miniaturized)

by MagicalSpaceDragon



Category: Girl Genius (Webcomic)
Genre: Canon-Typical Attitudes Toward Corpses, Don't copy to another site, Gen, Mechanicsburg (Girl Genius), Mouseworld
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-11
Updated: 2021-02-11
Packaged: 2021-03-17 03:40:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 659
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29343705
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MagicalSpaceDragon/pseuds/MagicalSpaceDragon
Summary: The von Arsens are, to put it humbly, the single most important and prestigious family of rats in Mechanicsburg.
Comments: 8
Kudos: 35





	The Return of the Heterodyne (Miniaturized)

**Author's Note:**

> this is probably more of a proof of concept than a fic but like

"Fraulein von Arsen," the Castle hums beside her ear, sounding far more coherent than usual, "Your presence may be required in the chapel."

Beatrix von Arsen, in the middle of detangling a knot of unattached wires left in the wall by a mimmoth, pauses and blinks several times. The Castle does not directly address the lot of them often, and for the most part they busy themselves with leaving spare materials for repairs where the prisoners can find them.

"Your  _ family's responsibilities," _ the Castle prompts, and Beatrix squeaks in realization and takes off at a four-legged run.

The von Arsens are, to put it humbly, the single most important and prestigious family of rats in Mechanicsburg, and therefore, "by the transitive property" as her grandfather might say, the world. Possibly the universe, although Beatrix will grudgingly admit that  _ that _ depends on whether any deities which may exist have what could be called  _ families, _ as well as how important they really are to the whole running of things.

Regardless! The von Arsens, by virtue of having been uplifted from simple rats with the intellect of mimmoths to complex and erudite beings  _ by the Heterodyne personally, _ rather than having been uplifted by some lesser spark and only later immigrated to Mechanicsburg, are the wardens of several essential and ancient responsibilities. Though Beatrix has learned all of them, of course, so as to be prepared for the Heterodynes' return whenever that may be, she is a member of the Generations Between, born in the Lost Times, and thus has never performed any of them save the singular duty asked of them in the Lost Times: the maintenance of the chapel.

Beatrix pokes her head out of the wall in a favored spot between two bricks, suitably high above the heads of most big folk, and observes from her vantage point as a human-ish—it's rude to assume someone's not a construct, after all—with long blonde hair steps into the room from a floating stone walkway, speaking with great frustration as though  _ bickering _ with the Castle.

Beatrix snickers—very quietly, so as not to disturb the solemnity of the proceedings—as the claimant recognizes the skulls paving the floor as, well,  _ skulls, _ cleaned immaculately by the von Arsens and no other, and then watches intently as she waits for the Castle's testing bite and summary execution.

* * *

The claimant is not executed. The claimant is, in fact, the Heterodyne. Beatrix is not even slightly ashamed to say that she faints from the shock.

Good old Peaches, her cousin, shakes her awake. From the sounds of it, the rest of the family has made it up to the chapel and has taken up their own places in the walls. "Bea, hey, where's the body, the Castle called us?"

"No body," Beatrix croaks. "The Heterodyne."

"You're hallucinating," Peaches says, even as the voices around them start to whisper  _ the Heterodyne, the Heterodyne, at last? _ "Bea, what did you  _ eat?" _

"She is correct," the Castle hums in the wall, distracted. Likely by attending to  _ the Heterodyne, the real, actual Heterodyne. _ "The one with the glasses, mind you, Mistress Agatha—the one in pink is an imposter, and I have no objections to you eating  _ her." _

"We'll spread the word," Beatrix says, still a bit faint. Peaches has taken to fanning her with the edge of her shawl. "Anything else, Herr Castle?"

"Aid her in repairing me, as you have been," it says. She can hear most of the family dispersing back to the lower levels already—word travels quickly among rats—and she contemplates whether she can make the request without embarrassing herself.

"May I sniff her blood?" she asks. Peaches groans,  _ entirely _ too long-suffering, and Beatrix kicks her. "Shush, I'll be quick!"

"I don't see why not," the Castle says indulgently.

(Peaches climbs down to sniff it too, of course. Beatrix could  _ tell _ she was thinking it.)

(The Jägerkin are right. Heterodynes smell like home.)

**Author's Note:**

> i propose that the nyar spider that tried to eat zola knew EXACTLY who it was going after. rest in peace, loyal servant of the heterodyne.


End file.
